Australians Snapping Up Foreclosed U.S. Homes

"America represents an opportunity, and Australians have just jumped all over it," Andrew Allen, the Australian founder of My USA Property, tells CNN.

Australians are feeling particularly flush these days, with the Australian dollar at par with the US dollar, a commodity-driven export boom, low unemployment, and a stable domestic housing market.

Now they're using that money to buy investment properties in the United States.

From CNN:

"Jim Reedy, owner of the Memphis-based property management firm Reedy and Company, said a recent sale he put together for an Australian on a $68,000 house looked something like this:

"With a $17,000 downpayment, the monthly costs for the buyer totaled about $700. That included the mortgage payment, insurance, management fee, taxes and setting aside 12% of the rent in an emergency fund to cover maintenance and vacancies.

"Yet the house rents for $1,100 a month. So the buyer is making $400 a month, a 28% return on his $17,000 investment. And that's not counting any appreciation the home may see, or the currency advantage if the Australian buys now and the Aussie dollar falls in the future."

Somewhere, Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan is looking at his dwindling residual checks and thinking to himself, "Hmmm...let's see if I can scrape together a down payment."